The former World and European champions had a very favourable draw and should have no trouble here. They still have a very capable squad and are blooding some new players who will gain much from this experience and be ready once the World Cup Finals come along. As for this competition – Anything less than a semi-final would be disappointment for them.

There is an unofficial song done for their Euro 2016 campaign, it’s a bit dull though.

I’ve chosen music from two previous World Cup tournaments simply because both of them have Spanish players singing on them – and featuring in the videos.

» This is from 2006 and is a bit simplistic, with a 12 bar boogie sort of Status Quo vibe going on:

» Fast forward to the last World Cup (2014) and again there are a couple of players not only in the video. but playing some instruments too.

“Defending champions Spain are the latest to launch their bid for chart domination with a tune called ‘Buena Energia’ (‘Good Energy’), and some leading members of the squad lend a hand. Diego Costa features with a cameo on the bongos, Xavi has a good bash on the drums and Iker Casillas picks up the tambourine in the video.”

CZECH REPUBLIC

European championship regulars. Their record in the last few tournaments is: 2012: Out in the Quarters. 2008: Third in group stages. 2004: Out in the Semis. 2000: Third in group stages. 1996: Out in the Semis. So as you can see they blow hot and cold. They qualified as winners of their group to get to these finals and are in a very winnable group. There are a couple of recognisable names in the squad (Petr Čech and Tomáš Rosický) most of the other players play domestically in the Czech Republic.

There aren’t any songs done for the Czech Republic for any major cup competitions. Nobody sings it seems.

I had to go back to a pre-split Czechoslovakia to find anything at all. This is from 1972 and it looks like they got players from various Czechoslovakian football clubs to sing.

It doesn’t matter that you don’t understand the Czech language because you’ll probably know the words to this very familar tune. The title translates as “Green is the grass” but Chelsea fans know it from a different colour.

Everything in threes for them. They qualified for this tournament as best third-placed team and they’ve been to the Euros three times before. In Euro ’96 they… don’t want to talk about it (P3 L3), but in Euro 2000 they fared better and got to the Quarters. Then in Euro 2008 they got all the way to the Semi-Finals and were just about beaten by Germany. In the past you would know of a couple of players, but in this one you’ll only recognise the captain, Arda Turan. Don’t expect them to exit out of the group this time.

I stumbled across this video via the wonderful YouTube (I’ve said before that if it wasn’t for YT I’d have no material for F&M).

I have no idea as to when the song was released. It was uploaded to You Tube in 2011 so it can’t be for Euro 2012 because they didn’t qualify for that one. The one thing I do know is that is has football players singing in the video.

If you know more, pop a note in the comments.

CROATIA

They’ve been to the Euros in 1996, 2004, 2008 and 2012. Their best showings were Quarter Finals in 1996 and 2008. Their current squad has a few well known names: Vedran Ćorluka (Remember him ?) Dejan Lovren, Ivan Rakitić, Luka Modrić in midfield and the Juventus striker Mario Mandžukić up front. I think they’ll fancy themselves to get out of the group and do well in the knockout stages.

When choosing a song for the Croatian team there is only one. Because of this man:

He wears an earring, smokes a fag, plays guitar in a rock band and oh yeah, is a Premier League manager.

After Croatia had qualified for Euro 2008 (when Bilic was the manager of the national team) he said to his bandmates:

“Coach Bilic told us in January that he had a song that sounded good. The song is very catchy, a classic rock tune and I believe that fans will like it and that it will become their hymn,” said Vlatka Bartulovic, a spokeswoman for Zagreb brewery, who will produce the song.